(upbeat music) - [Jack] Hello, this is
Jack from tofluency.com and welcome to this English lesson where I'm going to talk
about some key differences between the culture in the USA and the culture in the UK. And be sure to check out the description because I'm going to leave key words and phrases for you. So this lesson is going to be informative. It's going to give you some really good listening practice. And you're going to learn some new words and phrases too. Now the first phrase is, I've been living in the US since 2011. And this is true, and I'm using the present
perfect continuous to talk about something that happened in the past and continues to the present. So I've been living in the US since 2011. So today we're going to
talk about differences between houses, food, cars, air conditioning, some
stats for you as well. And because I am from the UK, but now I live in America, I have some interesting thoughts about the differences in culture. And we're also going to
talk about people too. So let's get started. Here's an expression that explains one of
the biggest differences between the UK and the US and it's this, go big or go home. Go big or go home. Now, this expression means if you're going to do something, you might as well make it big. You might as well do it in a big way. And this explains something about the US because everything is bigger in the USA. Everything is bigger in the USA, and we can talk about this in
terms of food and shopping. And cars and houses. And there's an article in the description for you to read after this lesson, if you want further practice, but I'm just going to use this and read a few statistics. So let's start with food. And my experience of this is that portion sizes are
much bigger in the US than they are in the UK. And this is true of fast food places, and also just general restaurants. Now it says here, that hamburgers have grown
by 23% in the past 20 years, and soft drinks have
increased in size by 52%. And I remember one of the
first times I visited the US, my family night got a sandwich, we all got a sandwich. And I just couldn't believe
the size of this sandwich. It was massive. And they had to put a toothpick in it to stop it from falling apart. That's a great phrasal verb. So they had to put a
toothpick in it to stop it from falling apart. So that it would stay together. And there was so much meat and lettuce, and lots of mayonnaise on this sandwich and a great way to explain
this is portion size. So portion size means the amount of food you get on your plate when you order in a restaurant or even if you're cooking at home. So portion sizes in the US are much bigger than they are in the UK. Next on the list in terms of how everything is
bigger is supermarkets, or superstores. Now in the US stores like Walmart and Target are huge, and they sell everything
that you would ever need. So they have groceries, they have food, they have clothes, sporting goods, home stuff, just anything you need
is in this big store. And it takes forever to
get around the entire store because they are so big. And it says here that US
stores are on average twice the size of that European equivalence. So stores in the US, on average are twice as big than they are in Europe and the UK. Cars are also much bigger too. So a lot of people in the US drive SUVs, which are cars that are big and can fit quite a
lot of people in there. And also, you'll find a lot of people drive pickup trucks, which are useful for when you need to put equipment in the back of the truck. Now in the UK, it's more common to see cars like minis and just small cars in general. And I think that it's a
big reason for this is that the roads in the UK are
quite narrow and the windy. Whereas in the US, when you're on the road, you have a lot of space, lanes are bigger. And generally speaking,
the roads are wider. The next one is houses. Now, speaking of things that are doubled in size, the average house size in America is twice as big as the
average house size in the UK. Again, twice as big, it's a massive difference. And also the style of
housing is different too. So, in the US, a lot of
people live in houses, which are detached, especially in the suburbs. So they have a lot of
space around the house. They have big yards, big gardens, and they are single housing units. Whereas in the UK, it's more common to see
semi detached housing, which means two houses that are together. There's no gap between and also terraced housing, which just means a row of houses without any space in between. Let's talk a little
bit more about food now because what I find is that meal times are quite similar. So people tend to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner around the same time. But I think that people in the US eat out more than people in the UK. So this means that people in the US go to restaurants more
often than people in the UK. But on the other hand, people in the UK tend to go to pubs more often than people in the US. And a big difference here is that a lot of pubs in the UK or most pubs are inside
because of the weather. So people go to socialize inside a pub, which has a nice setting it's usually quite comfortable. There's sports on and people meet up with
their friends inside pubs. Now there are beer gardens but (laughing) People don't tend to go
into the beer garden. Or use the beer gardens in the winter, or even sometimes in summer because the weather is so bad. But in the US, what I find is there
are a lot of breweries that make beer. And people go to these
breweries to meet their friends. But there's a lot of outdoor space. So usually they're in big fields. So children go to these places too, and the parents will have a beer, maybe they'll have something to eat, and the children will
play outside in the field. Now, my wife and I talked about
food differences in the US and UK in a recent lesson, and I'll leave the link to that. But I just want to add that
breakfast is different. So people in the US tend to eat things like pancakes, and muffins, and pastries for breakfast. Whereas in the UK, things are different where people tend to have toast and eggs and bacon, which is the
full English breakfast. Now something in common is that people will have cereal and milk or children especially. But breakfast is one of those meals that tends to really differ between the two countries. And before we talk about people, I just want to talk about tea and coffee. Because people in the
UK drink a lot of tea, as you probably know. Now, a good example of this is when I was working in
an office environment, there were about seven
of us in this office, and we would all take
it in turns to brew up, which means to make tea for everybody. So when it was my turn, I would go to the tea station, get everyone's tea mug, pour in the tea, and then serve it to everyone. And some people like to have it with milk, some might have it with sugar, which I never never understand because I don't like the
taste of sugar and tea. But anyway, in the US, it's more common to get a coffee or to grab a coffee. And this is becoming
more prevalent in the UK. So more people are
drinking coffee in the UK than they used to. But growing up, nobody really
drank coffee in the UK, people had instant coffee, but it's not the best tasting coffee. And I personally started
drinking more coffee when I moved to Spain
because it's everywhere, and it's incredibly delicious. But then when I moved to the US, I continued drinking coffee, and don't drink as much tea these days. Let's talk about people now, and the differences between people in the US and the UK. British people don't like to make small talk with strangers. So if you are out and about or at one of these breweries or a pub in the UK, it's not as common for people to make small talk with you. Which means that they
don't seem as friendly when they first meet you. But in the US people
like to make small talk, they like to say hi, when
you pass them on the street, or if you sit next to somebody or go near somebody in a restaurant or at the park, then generally speaking, you will have a conversation with them. But in the UK, people are a little bit more reserved, and they aren't as outgoing
when it comes to this. Having said that, people in the UK are very friendly. And if you make small talk with them in a friendly way, then they're likely to
respond in a good way. And once you get to know people, then you realize how friendly people are. People tend to be more
patriotic in the US too. And you'll notice this when you drive around neighborhoods and see people flying the American flag outside of their house. So people have an American flag on the standouts of their house. Whereas in the UK people
don't really do this, unless there's some type of special event like a royal wedding or if England during the World Cup finals, for example, then people
will fly the English flag. And this is also evident when it comes to holidays. So people in the US really celebrate their national holidays, especially Independence Day, which celebrates the
independence from the UK, in during the Revolutionary War. So people will have
American flags everywhere. They'll have fireworks. They'll celebrate this
day by having barbecues and drinking and just spending time with their family and friends. Because it's in summer, usually the weather's great, so people do this outside. In terms of humor, people in the UK tend to be more sarcastic and their humor seems to be drier and they're more self deprecating which means they like
to joke about themselves and make fun of themselves. Whereas in the US is a
little bit more direct, and a little bit more in your face. A good example of this is the difference between the "UK Office" and also the "American Office". So if you ever watched these TV shows, you might notice the difference between humor styles. Let's go through some more
differences now quite quickly. So alcohol is a big one where the drinking age in the UK is 18. And the drinking age in the US is 21. And Brits, on average do drink more than people in the US but it's not a massive difference. The cost of tuition is
a lot more in the US. So people tend to be more debt when they leave University. But salaries are higher too. So people who go through
medical school for example, and then become a doctor. They'll pay more to go through university, but their salaries will be a lot higher. There's also a big difference when it comes to vacation time. Now companies in the UK offer I think, 28 days paid leave, paid vacation time. Whereas in the US, companies tend to give around 10 days. So people in the UK really
love their holiday time. They talk about their holidays, they book it in advance, and then they go on holiday maybe two to three times a year. Whereas in the US, it's not as common due
to the limited time off. Although it's been a long time since I last dated somebody. There is a difference between dating because in the UK, it's not as common to go up to somebody and ask them for their number or to approach strangers in public and ask for dates. Whereas in the US, it's a little bit more common. So people will approach somebody else, ask them for their number, ask them if they want to go on a date, but I think this plays into the fact that British people aren't as outgoing. And they aren't as direct as Americans. Air conditioning is a fun difference because in the UK only 0.5%
of homes are conditioned. Whereas in the US 87% of
homes are air conditioned. And what's what I find strange is when it is really hot
in the summer in the US, and you go into a store
or go to the cinema, it's freezing inside. So they crank the AC, which means they have
the AC on really cool. And there's a big difference. So you're outside in shorts and T shirt and you go into a store and it's just too cold. So those are some differences between the UK and the US. Like I said before, be sure to check the description because I'm going to leave the key words and phrases from this lesson there. And if you are new to this channel, then please like and share this video and also subscribe and turn
on the notification bell. And in the description you're going to find a link so that you can get my "5-Step plan For English
Fluency" book for free. So go check it out. Okay, thank you so much for watching this. Please continue learning with me by clicking on
another video on your screen and I will speak to you soon. Okay, bye bye. (upbeat music)
